BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said special focus on skill development will be given to all aspirational districts of the country.
Inaugurating the third anniversary of Skill India Mission on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day here, Pradhan said the Centre has taken special initiatives to provide sustainable livelihood to people in the 115 most backward districts including 10 in Odisha. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has also designed special employment-linked programmes for these aspirational districts, he added.
“It is imperative that the Government and the private sector work hand-in-hand to ensure a successful skilled ecosystem. We need to ensure convergence at every step to engage our youths meaningfully to see the New India of our dreams,” he said.
The Union Minister further said India is also partnering with countries like Japan, Germany and UAE to ensure global opportunities of training and employment for youths of the country.
“Skill is not a new concept to our country. It has been recognised since ages. The recently concluded Rath Yatra in Puri is itself a reflection of a successful skill ecosystem which ensures that year after year the huge wheeled wooden chariot is built, painted and carved upon with beautiful designs. This is one small example of the work of skilled professional,” he added.
Highlighting the achievements made under the Skill India Mission, Union Secretary Skill Development and Entrepreneurship K P Krishnan said the Ministry has been able to skill, reskill and upskill close to one crore youth annually in the country just under Central Government programmes, which is also being positively supplemented by State and industry efforts towards equipping the youth with the market relevant skill sets.
“One of our bigger achievements has been the aspirational value that we have been able to bring to skills along with scale and standards. We are not only skilling people but also creating progression pathways for our youth within the education system and across sectors by ensuring academic equivalence,” he added.
The Ministry along with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on Sunday announced the commencement of India Skills Regional Competitions (Eastern Chapter) 2018, one of the biggest skill competition for the eastern region.
India Skills regional competition will showcase over 225 competitors from 22 States competing across 27 skills ranging from mobile robotics, automobile technology, cooking, bricklaying, CNC milling, web design among others. The winners from these competitions will compete at national level with winners from other regional competitions to win a chance of representing India at World Skills 2019 in Kazan, Russia.